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| Elizabeth Fitzpatrick 1887 - 1974 |
When I was a little girl, I'd often run down to my Grandma's house down the road, and hang out with her for an afternoon, day, or a sleepover.
When there, I'd more than likely be hanging out with not only my Grandma, but sometimes her friends and neighbors.
The old ladies would sit around having pots of tea, with cookies, bars, or slices of cake. And always the visiting.
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| L to R: Great Aunt Hannah (Fitzpatrick) Fox, Grandma Elizabeth (Fitzgerald) Fitzpatrick [1969 in her home] |
They would often regale one another with stories or sharing happenings that the others didn't know or hadn't witnessed. It was the Facebook of their day.
And the way they told their stories, was unique and colorful...1
So I says to him, I says, "-------------------" And then she says, "-------------------" (and on it would go...)
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1 - Historic Present (tense) is often used in usual discourse;
Jespersen said that "
The speaker, as it were, forgets all about time and recalls what he is recounting as vividly as if it were now present before his eyes."
The historic present is its own separate tense:
It is interesting to note that the rules for the distribution of -s in subject-verb concord do not apply in the "historic present", where -s even occurs with an adjacent, non-coordinated personal pronoun subject. Consider the following examples from Irish English (3a) and from north east Yorkshire (3b-c)
(3) a. And I goes down and gets him by the neck
b. I says
c. in comes I
This suggests that the historic present, which is
used to bring dramatic effect to the narration of past events, is a special marked tense and not merely the present tense used to refer to the past.
(From: A subject-verb agreement: Evidence from analogical change in modern English dialects by Carol Chapman)
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Conversations inspired by the photo above, on Facebook...
Betty Jeanne Short Thorsvig I have Grandma’s buffet and china closet; Sharon has the rocking chair. I also have her lazy Susan that is on the buffet. My Bill refinished them all; just beautiful.
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Trish Short Lewis I feel like that room is still there, just like it is in that photo, and just waiting for me to come and visit it and the people in it. And I do...in my dreams...
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Carolyn Peterson Betty Jeanne Short Thorsvig
My mom Clara was so upset with her mom for teaching me to snap gum, she was a cool grandma and I loved her very much. The last time I saw grandma is when auntie Grace had passed away and all of us surprised her at the nursi…
Trish Short Lewis I didn't realize that Grandma knew how to snap gum! I never saw her chew gum period. I learned something!! lol
Delphine Mundorf No Carolyn you are right grandma taught me to snap gum too. We took grandma and grandpa on a trip with US to the black hills and grandma chewed gum and that's when I learned to snap gum. Much to my dad's displeasure.
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Carolyn Peterson Grandma and grandpa had strong Love 💕 for each other for all life dealt them , in sleeping 😴 upstairs across from there room they always got on there hands and knees to pray at night.
Delphine Mundorf Mom told me grandpa liked to drink in his younger years and grandma hated drinking. One night he went out on the town and grandma was mad so she locked him out of the house. Grandpa put a ladder up to get into the upstairs window. When he got half way up the ladder grandma pushed it over. Guess grandpa slept on the ground that night. LOL
Trish Short Lewis Carolyn I never knew that, about them praying together like that. That is so beautiful! Please, think about your memories, and share more...every bit is precious to me...
David Conley Trish Short Lewis, you know, so many times people look different than what our memories of them are. But great grandma looks EXACTLY like I remember her!! ❤❤❤
Trish Short Lewis I know! I feel the same way. She was such a strong, positive personality, and was a great influence on my life, as she was to so many others...
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Carolyn Peterson David Conley Many great memories from my grandma’s home . She would rock I and Corrine in the rocking chair. I Loved 💕 my grandma .Carolyn
Trish Short Lewis Carolyn, we all did! So many little ones passed through her homes and her arms! She made each of us feel very special. Can you share some memories of Grandma with us?
David Conley Trish Short Lewis my favorite is when I was 6. I was running past grandma who was at the kitchen table. I patted her leg on my way past. (You know, the wooden one?) Something didn't seem right, so I turned around, lifted up her dress, and that leg just didn't look right, so I bit it trying to figure out what was wrong with it?? Grandma laughed for a good 20 minutes!!! 😂😂😂lol
Zelda C. Hartje So how old were these beautiful ladies when this photo was taken? We always thought our grandparents were so old, but now realize that they weren’t so old, just looked old by today’s standards. Nothing better than growing up close to grandparents!
Diane Lande Johnson Looks like my grandmother’s house. My grandma always wore jersey dresses. I never saw her in pants.
Corrine Johnson Looking back at my grandmother I see how hard these women worked they were always amazing to me. I loved her so much. I loved the last summer I spent with her in 1962. I was home visiting from beauty school. That was the best of times and I am so grateful that I get the chance to be with her. Love you grandmother.
Trish Short Lewis Yes, both memories of those I have, also. Food was always a major theme in our family!!
Delphine Mundorf My dad loved her canned chicken in gravy. I was always so amazed. We slept upstairs when we visited. and I would come downstairs in the morning and grandma already had a cake and cookies all baked and ready to eat. I don't know what time she got up but bake goods were already done when we got up.
